New New Gettysburg
by Andrigno
Summary: Typical what if of the Battle of New Gettysburg, what if Raynor and his raiders have come earlier and manages to rescue Kerrigan from the claws of the Zerg, read it if you want


Disclaimer: You really think, actually think, that i own StarCraft ,really, if the answer is yes,please do me a favor and go directly to a Psycologist ,please, if the aswer is no, sont worry you are perfectly sane btw I do not own Starcraft eheh

This Fic is not writed by me( Andrigno) but for Deathunit100010 ,he is the writing hand of this peace of work, the Original Idea and some of Plot are mine , but the rest belong to him, thanks buddy for listening to me and writing this

"That's the last of them." the ghost operative reported with a sigh of relief.

Around her, in the war-torn area that was once a Protoss main base, her marine division was 'cleaning house', moving around and shooting any Protoss warrior that could still twitch.

Kerrigan stepped down from the ruined watchtower near the center of the base, carefully placing each step as to not make the aged structure collapse. As soon as her feet were planted on the ground with a plunk, she eyed the area.

Aside from the howling wind and the occasional weapon discharge, it was mostly quiet.

"Ma'am." a marine said with a nod as she approached.

"Marine, what's the status on the remaining Protoss?" she asked. As she continued walking down the aisle of killed Protoss warriors and machines, the marine and his two squadmates joined her in even pace.

"What little remains are either in hiding or are just about dead."

"Contact our base. I want three vultures scouting the area in the next five minutes."

"Yes ma'am. What of the intact Protoss structures?"

"Destroy them completely. We have no use for them and we certainly don't want them reconstructed." She replied.

"Yes ma'am." the remain said. Finished with his transaction, the marines closed their helmets and moved in formation to one of the intact structures.

Kerrigan continued her steady pace before eventually hearing a sudden increase of weapons fire due North of her position. At first, Kerrigan eyed the location, covered by rubble, for a few seconds. The cease of weapons fire eventually drew her attention away from the rubble and back to her task at hand. Suddenly however, her comm. began buzzing with intel.

"This is Charlie, we've got multiple contacts coming in, we need immediate suppo-" The feed cut.

Kerrigan quickly activated her comm. "Charlie, whats wro-"

"Bravo here, our position is quickly being overrun. The damn things are everywhe-"

"Bravo, report your status!"

Even if she couldn't hear their voices, the increased weapons fire all around her position told her more than enough information. Something was attacking her troopers and it was swarming, and only one known faction was known for swarms.

"Delta he- damn it! Kill those damn Zerglings. Ma'am, this is Delta, we got Zerg everywhere and they already killed three men."

"Delta, regroup with Alpha and tell the commander to dig in and hold out." Kerrigan replied. She began jogging to Alpha's location, grabbing the rifle from her back and keeping an eye on her sensors. "Get into contact with the base and tell them of the situation."

After a short jog and plenty of static coming from her comm. unit, Delta's commander replied, his voice almost inaudible from the weapons fire and shouting, "The base isn't responding. They may have been hit before the buggers came for us."

Kerrigan gave a curse under her breath. "Proceed to Alpha, I'll get into contact with Mengsk and try and get us the hell out of this place."

…

"Get onto the damn transport!" Raynor shouted from the opened door.

The position Mengsk placed him in went to hell fast. At first everything was fine except the minor Protoss presence, but even that was eradicated. Then the Zerg appeared by surprise and all hell broke loose.

The bunkers he had placed strategically helped hold them back, but only for a few seconds. They Zerg merely climbed over their dead and overran the bunkers. Now they were swarming the base. Luckily, they were so busy destroying the closest structures that they didn't bother running through and finishing or fighting any marines that were farther into the base, and closer to the incoming transports.

Holding his weapon with a firm grip, Raynor stood by the opened transport door as he called out to what marines remained. The dirt that flied around because of the transports did little to help his line of sight, but it was lucky for him that Zerg soldiers looked nothing like Terran marines.

Near one of the passages, a choke point leading to the transports, six marines held their position, prepared to hold back any and all Zerg with their lives. Raynor liked their sense of duty to defend the transport, but he knew the Zerg. They would only last a few seconds, or until they had to reload.

Marine after marine came through the choke point, jogging to the transport. To what Raynor could see, they all had the same look on their faces. Anger. He knew they would do anything to stay and fight, but orders were orders. These certainly were hardy marines.

He had little more time to think to himself however, as the marines by the choke point began firing. First, it was in short, controlled bursts, but eventually they began firing non-stop. Firing like that only meant that the Zerg were far too close to their position.

"Marines, get your asses on this shuttle ASAP!" he shouted. The shuttle itself, began heating its engines for a quick departure.

The marines continued firing until one of the marines patted the shoulder of another and began running to the shuttle. Eventually, two more made their way until finally all of them began jogging. It did little though, as the Zerg finally became visible.

They must have had a massive invasion force, or had a base incredibly nearby, but Raynor had never seen so many Zerg, let alone Zerglings. The creatures stepped over, jumped over, and ran around the choke point, spreading out and finding the retreating marines. Raynor wasted no time in prepping his weapon and firing.

"Faster!" he shouted to the marines. The Zerglings were already charging. He knew, before they even began running, that three or four of the marines that held their position would go down. And they did.

Stampeding, the creatures speed was nearly unmatched as they easily made it to the farthest marine from the shuttle, first nabbing at his legs and tripping him. A group converged in him like ravenous animals and began biting down on him as he cried out in pain and tried grabbing his carbine. He was dead before he could touch it.

As the creatures devastated the marine, most of the Zerglings didn't pay attention to the one that already fell and continued their stampede to the ones that were still running. Raynor continued firing, his finger hitting the trigger periodically.

Two more fell, leaving only three left. To his benefit, the two who ran ahead made it into the shuttle, their legs clanking loudly as they stopped only to sit down hastily. Before the last marine could make it, a Hydralisk managed to appear from the choke point and gave a guttural hiss before quickly shooting acid at his legs.

The scream of the marine was drowned out by the activation of the transports thrusters. Raynor knew, just as the pilot did, that there was no saving him. Without hesitation, the ship lifted off the ground with a slight thud before raising higher and higher. To Raynors appeal, the marine was nowhere in sight. It saved him from watching the brutalization of another marine.

Not long after the ship was high however, the several Hydralisks that littered the base began firing projectile acid at the transport. Raynor narrowly dodged a glob of acid as it went extremely fast. Instead of hitting him, it hit the ceiling of the transports armored hull. Even then, the acid began burning into the heavy metal that coated the inards of the transport.

"Get us out of here!" Raynor shouted, holding onto a nearby grip for support. As soon as the thrusters ignited, more acid flew at the transport. Raynor gritted his teeth as several volleys of the avid narrowly missed him, but one landed on his chest armor. There was little he could do as it burned at him, but luckily the acid stopped burning through his armor mid-way. Still, he felt a burn on the chest inside the armor. A very painful burn, but atleast he was a live.

"Close the damn transport door!" he shouted, turning to the cockpit. The door slid almost immediately, closing in front of him and sealing him and the few marines inside, safely lifting off to the Hyperion.

"Raynor, what are you doing!" came a voice from the suddenly loud comm. unit in Raynor's suit. The sudden outburst caused Raynor to cringe, but he quickly touched the comm. unit and replied, "In case you haven't noticed, the base was overrun with Zerg."

"That base was vital in sending and stationing soldiers for rapid responses around the system, Raynor. Once you come back, you will take a new mobile base, a handful of marines and a single ghost to retake it. I don't care how many we loose, we need that area. Burn the entire plain if you have to."

"Sir, it will take weeks to advance, and were the hell do you suppose we land? Theres not a single piece of flat terrain that will possibly hold back the Ze-"

"Improvise, Raynor!" Mengsk replied angrily. "Land on a hill, burn down an area if you have to, I want that station back under our control sometime between now and our next supply drop."

"Mengsk, going down there would be-"

"This is Kerrigan." A new voice announced from the comm. It caught both Mengsk and Raynor by surprise. Kerrigan continued, "We have neutralized the Protoss but there is a wave of Zerg advancing on this position. We need immediate evac."

There was a short stall on both ends as Raynor let the information sink in. "Mengsk, get her out of there."

On Mengsk's side, the leader of the resistance eyed the planet Tarsonis through the large screen before him. Kerrigans voice echoed throughout his chamber for a further two seconds before he turned to his communications officer behind him. "Belay that order. We're movin' out."

As expected, Raynor disagreed greatly. "What!" the Captain asked in disbelieving anger. "Your not just gonna leave her!"

"All ships, prepare to move away from Tarsonis on my mark." Mengsk continued, ignoring the Captain. The communications officer eyed the leader of the rebellion before nodding and canceling the order for a pick-up. Mengsk eyed the planet once more as Raynor's comm. still emitted the Captains ragged breathing.

"Uh, boys?" Kerrigans voice asked through the comms once more.

After what Mengsk considered a heated silence, Raynor's voice came back, low and with anger. "Damn you, Arcturus. Don't do this!"

Looking at the planet, Arcturus silently adds, "Its done." Turning from the screen, he looks at the dressed pilot at the head of the room's center. "Helmsmen, signal the fleet and take us out of orbit." He began walking to his own seat at the head of the ship, higher than that of the Helmsmen. "Now."

…

"Commander? Jim? What the hells going on out there?"

Raynor gritted his teeth.

"Sarah? Sarah?" he asked. He could hear her, but she couldn't hear him. It must have been Mengsk's doing. If he was going to do something, he'd have to do it fast.

Looking up and around, Raynor loosened the grip he had on his weapon and made his way through the somewhat crowded transport shuttle to the pilot, who was clicking away at the many buttons and dials that littered the cockpit.

"Pilot." He said as he came into the rather enclosed cockpit, not caring for names. "I need you to lock onto the coordinates of one; Sarah Kerrigan."

"Another pick-up?" the pilot asked as she already began looking up Kerrigans last known coordinates. After a rather short wait, the pilot replied, "Its not here."

"What?" Raynor asked in disbelief. The pilot moved slightly, showing only the position of the base and not Sarah's location. Its meaning was clear and Raynor seethed with anger. "The bastard knew she'd get attacked from the start…" Unnoticingly, his hands balled into fists and started creaking at the force he was using.

"Sir, we could always do it manually, but repots show her position is overrun with Zerg. The chances of us finding her with these added obstacles are low and risky, but I'm with you and so are the men… I think."

Raynor turned around and saw the band of weary troops, most with their helmets off or their visors slid open. All eyed the commander wearily but after a few seconds, they all held determined looks. Most nodded silently at him, overhearing the discussion. Raynor gave a nod to the men and turned back to the pilot.

"Activate the secondary thrusters for additional speed and boost the radars signal strength for friendlies. If we're gonna look for her, I want it done as soon as fucking possible."

"Aye aye, sir." The pilot replied, already moving her hands around the cockpit. Raynor went to the cramped aisle once more and held onto the grip that hung from the ceiling as the ship suddenly thudded with additional power to its thrusters. He jerked forward once before letting himself stand firmly with the new pressure he felt. Looking at the team that was mostly un-resocialized marines, he exchanged nods with most of the team. They weren't going to save civilians. They were going to save a friend.

…

"Commander? Jim? What the hells going on out there?" Kerrigan asked into the comm. The ghost forced her breathing to relax as she looked around once more. Aside from the Hydralisk she recently killed, it was clear. The wind and dust did little to help her vision and hearing, but she made out most of the figures around her.

Giving up on contacting Mengsk and Raynor, Kerrigan activated her comm. for her squads. "Delta, have you reached Alpha?"

Static greeted her from the other side. Kerrigan held the communicator's switch with two fingers as she proceeded to Alpha's location. "Delta, have you reached Alpha?" she repeated. More static. Gunfire was still heard, so there 'must' be 'some' survivors. After a short Jog, a reply came in.

"This is Delta 11-09A. Delta 22-19A has been downed. There are only three of the original twenty marines left on this squad and we 'have' reached Alpha's position. Zerg have been coming almost non-stop and we are running out of ammo, ma'am." A marine responded.

Kerrigan, alert of Delta's new situation, increased her pacing to both get to Alpha's location as well as escape a scurrying she heard faintly. "Copy. I am approaching your position, do not fire on anything with two legs."

"Yes ma'am." The reply came and the comm. went silent.

Dropping her fingers from the comm. Kerrigan began concentrating on the jog towards the marines. Any obstacle that was low enough, she leapt over with ease. The larger obstacles did little to challenge her as she easily found her way around those. It wasn't at all a surprise to the Ghost that she easily and swiftly made it to Alpha's location.

Kerrigan began running to the dug-in location by the marines, who were shooting ahead of them, and Kerrigan. Even now, the Ghost saw how many bodies the Zerg had amassed to assault the combined squads. To little surprise, the Zerg were climbing their dead in order to get to the marines, and there certainly were many dead Zerglings.

The fact that there were no Hydralisks around made Kerrigan curious, but she considered it luck and preferred not to ask the question aloud. She'd rather not jinx them.

The marines who were looking out on the part she ran to were quick to pick up their weapons and aim at her direction. Kerrigan knew they weren't aiming at her, but rather the area behind her, ensuring her a somewhat safe passage to the dug-in location.

A short jog later, Kerrigan slipped into the minor trench and nodded to the two guards. After giving her a return nod, the marines quickly put their attention back on the dirt-ridden wind that surrounded their position, monitoring for Zerg.

Kerrigan moved past the troops to Alpha's leader, who fired from an elevated position onto the Zerglings that tried to make it to the dig-in. They were separated and few, so their deaths were inevitable.

"Captain, how goes the defense?" Kerrigan asked as she spotted an ammo cache nearby and began looking for rounds for her own weapon.

"Its all gone to hell, ma'am. Zerg are all over the area, ammo is limited and this dust-storm isn't helping at all. If that wasn't bad enough, Mengsk ordered the general removal of the orbiting fleet from Tarsonis."

Giving the weapon a sound clack-clack as to confirm its ammo canister as full, Kerrigan's gaze quickly turned to the marine, disbelief well placed on her face. "What?"

"Mengsk has ordered the fleet away from the planet. We're on our own."

"Mengsk cant do that! Why the hell would he leave us here to d-"

"Zerg!" a marine shouted from far off.

Kerrigan gritted her teeth as she looked where the report had been shouted. Dust greeted her, the wind spraying the area with the annoying substance and clouding her vision. Pulling down her visor over her eyes however, Kerrigan saw what would discourage any commander in her position. An amassed force of Zerg, all encroaching upon her position, with Hydralisks this time. How appropriate.

"Damn it." Sarah muttered as she raised her weapon and pulled the minor grip on the side. "Their coming in fast! Reload and fire on my mark!"

While Alpha's commander was mostly in charge, Kerrigan easily outranked him. Following the chain of command, every soldier reloaded as instructed and brought their weapons down onto the mixture of dirt, metal and debris, aiming into the thick cloud of dust.

After a short wait, the sounds of clicking and howling could be heard easily through the roaring wind. Kerrigan, observing the Zerg's advancement through her visor, continued to grit her teeth until the Zerg came within a viable point of visibility. Squeezing her trigger, Kerrigan shouted, "FIRE!"

The marines fired on command, deafening the Zerg's many cries of pain and wounding with their bullets and heated weapons canisters. The rapid ting of falling bullets didn't make a sound to anyone until they had to reload. Even the, the ting was brief as they began firing once more.

As before, the Zerg were relentless and cared little for their dead. The Zerglings began climbing their fallen, using them as cover at some points. Though the zerglings died in large numbers, there was no sign of their numbers stopping, nor was there any sign of them stopping their slow advance. Eventually, to Kerrigan dismay, the Zerg would reach them and begin slaughtering her men, her included.

Kerrigan continued firing through her scope, now switched to Thermal view instead of the standard view. She also switched between explosive rounds and armor piercing rounds. To the Ghost, her weapon was the loudest of them all when it came to the firing of her gun. At least when she had to fire an explosive round.

After a few minutes of steady firing, the rate at which the marines fired was becoming worrisome as clip after clip of ammo fell onto the floor, most clips not lasting as long as the last the marines had used. This, joined with the fact that the Zerg were now closer than ever, made Kerrigan shoot out of desperation. She normally would have remained calm, but she had never been in this type of situation. Abandoned, limited ammo, very few troops and no reinforcements arriving. She heard that desperation makes the most docile into the most deadly. If it were true, she wouldn't mind having it happen to her.

Everything was somewhat fine until a few more seconds when a soldier armed a clip and heard it tick several times. The same happened with a few of the others who were holding the line. The worst had happened. They had run out of ammunition.

Like a signal, the Zerg moved with increased speed and broke past the minor trench, now within Terran lines and slaughtering the few who no longer had ammo. The marines who were near began firing at the Zerglings, as well as pulling out their side-arms for increased damage, but the Zerg began spilling in and began targeting the remaining troopers.

Kerrigan's heart beat rapidly as death came closer and closer with each falling marine. Her weapon fired rapidly as she noticed that aiming did little. There were more than enough Zerg on the area that she didn't need to aim. She could simply fire and the bullet would hit any Zerg.

The marines began fighting the Zerg with whatever they could collect. Large metallic beam, sharp jagged metallic spear, even simple melee. These were attempts made by people who grew to great heights of desperation to stay alive. It was all, however, futile. They could have only managed to stab and maybe kill a single Zerg before three more flanked him and took him down, striking him with their many talons. The sounds of bones crushing and snapping were easily heard once the creatures cut through their armor and began biting and gnawing away at their flesh.

The battle was lost, from Kerrigans viewpoint and position. The Commander was still determined, and so was she, but the number of Zerg was overwhelming. Kerrigan eventually heard a hiss behind her. Looking back, she noticed a Zergling, crouched and prepared to pounce. The ghost had little time to prepare as it jumped and roared at the need to kill. Mid-leap however, the creature was caught by a surprise. Grasping the creature by its neck, or more accurately punching it away, the Commander struck the Zergling and swiftly pulled out his pistol. As the creature finally managed to stand, he discharged the pistols many rounds into the unprotected area's near its underbelly and carapace. With a howl, the creature slumped on the floor, dead.

The commander did little to check if Kerrigan was alright as he turned his attention to firing at the Zerg. Sarah however, went to the backside and defended their elevated position from further surprise attacks.

The firing and screams continued for a further twenty seconds before a beep came to Kerrigans comm. For a reason unknown to Kerrigan, it wouldn't let her patch into the comm. of the approaching friendly, but the thought of help actually coming made her senses reach new peeks and her finger get an even more firm hold on the trigger. To her benefit, she didn't have to fire an extra round.

Roaring into view as well as lowering, a transport of advanced design neared Kerrigan and the commander's elevated position. She didn't let it distract her from looking for Zerg, but the need to escape alive made her anxious to turn and jump into the vehicle.

As the hiss of the transports door was heard, Kerrigan heard several thuds coming from behind her as it dropped off passengers. Then a familiar voice called out to her.

"Sarah, get in!"

Shocked at the sound of her name as well as who the call came from, Kerrigan turned quickly and spoke in disbelief as the Captain joined the commander and began firing onto the Zerg.

"Jim?"

Raynor didn't respond as he fired onto the Zerg. The sheer size of their amassed numbers awed him, but now he only wanted them all dead. "Kill the bastards!" he commanded to his team, who were all too happy to oblige.

"What the hell are you doing here? How did you know I was here and le-"

"Not now, Sarah!" Jim shouted back at her as he narrowly avoided a glob of Acid. "Get into the damn transport and THEN we'll talk!"

Kerrigan's chin moved up and down as she tried coming up with words to respond, but she gave up with responding and went into the shuttle. A closer look at it told her it was one of Raynors own shuttles, personalized and 'upgraded' to his tastes. It fitted only a few number of passengers, but she had no doubt it was probably the fastest transport she'd ever seen.

"Okay, I'm in, now get your ass in here!"

"You heard the lady!" Raynor shouted. "Lets go!" The marines entered one by one into the transport, the ones not moving constantly firing onto the Zerg that were now trying to reach the point the evac was being initiated. Alpha and Delta squads no longer existed, all their members wiped out save for Alpha's commander. With a pistol in his hands as well as ragid breathing and dissolving chest-piece armor, the commander lay in the seat and awaited the transport to lift off, hopefully in safety.

Last to load, amidst the flurry of picked up dust and heavy wind, Raynor jumped into the ship and held on to the grip that lay by the door while his other arm continued its volley against the rapidly approaching Zerg. "Get us the hell out of here!"

"Sir, we've got an incoming projectile moving extremely fast!"

"I don't want to know, just move!" Raynor shouted again. Beside the Captain, the Ghost also continued her own volley with her rapidly depleting rifle. The thrusters kicked in, causing the two to jerk forward slightly before the ship lifted and rapidly accelerated away.

The air being forced out of the ship due to the incredibly fast transport pulled at everyone. It wasn't until Raynor commanded the hatch be closed that the air stopped being forced out and gave some time for breathing. A sudden outburst from the pilot quelled the peace.

"Incoming strike from a Yamato cannon!"

"A WHAT!"

…

"Sir, are these orders accurate?" the helmsmen asked.

High above Tarsonis, a single Battlecruiser orbited the planet, its nose aimed directly at the world.

"Aye, they are. Mengsk ordered a strike on Kerrigans last known position. Its to 'ease the pain of dying' as he called it."

"Sir, we could save them."

"We could, but the Zerg swarmed the location. If she is alive, this will give her a swift, painless death. If she is dead, we help take down the Zerg who killed her. Either way, there will be a hell of a lot of dead Zergs after this."

Giving only a second to think it through, the helmsmen nodded and pressed several keys on his terminal.

"Yamato Cannon strike authorized. Increase the cannons drive for a more devastating round. Decrease main power around the entire ship by twenty percent to ensure the blast makes it to the ground instead of blowing in midair… done."

"Fire on my command." The Captain said, raising a finger and looking at the planet with furrowed brows. After two seconds, he pointed at the planet, the area where Kerrigan was last reported. "Fire!"

"Firing Yamato Cannon… now!"

The crew in the bridge felt the entire ship vibrate around them as well as give a very loud hum, starting from the back and rapidly approaching the front. In less than a second, the hum ended, and soon afterwards, a loud 'whoosh' was heard as the cannon fired. Unlike other Yamato cannon rounds, this one glowed extremely vibrantly due to the added power the cannon used to enhance the shot.

Lights flickered momentarily before stabilizing and the entire crew watched as the shot made its way to the target at incredibly fast speeds.

"Yamato Cannon round fired. Estimated time until impact, 55 seconds." The announcement echoed throughout the station.

The Captain continued to eye the blast, hoping it would kill all the Zerg that infested Kerrigans last known location..

…

"Yamato cannon round incoming! Power draw from the round is off the charts, they must have enhanced it!"

"What! How?"

"Its Mengsk!" Kerrigan stated aloud. "He learned how to make the cannons round more devastating that it naturally is! We need to get out of here!"

"We're already going as fast as we ca-"

"Faster!"

The pilot began sweating profoundly, running her hands all over the cockpit, drawing power to the thrusters by sacrificing their shields. The result make everyone woozy from the unprecedented increase in speed, even the hardened Raynor and Kerrigan.

Looking out the minor viewscreen on the sealed shuttle door, Kerrigan pointed at the blast that came down fast. "There!"

Raynor looked out and found his eyes widening. The round glowed incredibly red and was making its way to the ground faster than he anticipated. The planets ozone layer must have affected it somehow.

"Hold onto something!" Raynor shouted, gripping the bar he held even tighter than before.

Sarah and Jim held onto their seats as well as the iron grips on their sides as hard as they could. In a sudden vibrant ray of light, the enhanced Yamato round hit the ground and blinded anyone who looked at it. Luckily, none of the marines did.

No sound came from the round, but Raynor and everyone knew better. Even at their enhanced speed, anyone could have seen the vast line that represented the shockwave near them. In a sudden, the line struck the transport and everyone heard the sound simultaneously.

It came as an extremely muffled, yet hearable bang that hummed loudly within the confines of the transport. Jim and everyone else cringed as their stomachs churned violently. The beeping coming from the cockpit as well as the shacking of the transport did little to help.

The shaking continued for several seconds until the pilot finally managed to regain control of the transport. With the silencing of the beeping and the passing of the loud humming, everyone's heavy breathing could be heard.

After a brief moment of rest, the pilot announced, "We're going into high orbit. There seems to be a Battlecruiser left behind from the fleet. I'll try and get us docked with the ship and after that… hell, I don't know, but I sure as hell know all of you owe me something, either in the form of money or beer."

The joke, dry and somewhat humorless, managed to make a few marines smile as well as give chuckles. They were all too tired to cheer or whoop. Right now, the fact that they were alive was the only information that they liked. There was one, however, who still had energy, and she was angry.

"Damn that Mengsk!" Kerrigan shouted in anger. Raynor, still breathing heavily, looked over to Sarah, seeing her hands balled into fists and her face showing a mixture of emotions, but all of them telling him she was pissed.

"Sarah, you alright?"

"Alright? Alright!" Kerrigan asked, eying the Captain. "I was left for dead by Arcturus and it sure as hell didn't look as though he tried to help me!"

"He didn't." Raynor admitted. He wasn't surprised that she wasn't surprised. "He ordered all our forces to fall back. He did leave you for dead and when I tried talking to him about it, he waved me aside. I think he wanted you to die, Sarah."

Kerrigan knew Mengsk had something against her in some way, but this was something else. "He wanted me to die? If he wanted me to die, why did he also risk the lives of all the Terrans who agree'd to come down there with me and fight the Protoss? I don't think he cares who dies, all he wanted was for me to die!"

"Mengsk HAS crossed the line, Sarah, and believe me, we'll make him answer for this. He may be popular with many of the Terrans in the Sons of Korhal, but I doubt he knows them like I do. Hell, I've fought with most of them, if not FOR them."

"Mengsk isn't going to answer for this." Kerrigan replied, eying her fists. "He'll be dead by the time he notices I'm still alive!"

Raynor gave a nod and eyed the Ghost for several seconds, worrying about how far she' go for revenge. He noticed Sarah eventually cool down as her fists unclenched and her gaze turn from hatred to thoughtful. Eventually, his wondering of her ended with a thud and a hiss. Raynor looked around, but the view from the pilots screen told him everything he had to know. They had docked in the Battlecruiser.

"The Rhodes has accepted our request to dock and will find us some area to rest. They'd also like to know how we escaped, or why we didn't retreat with the initial fleet." Looking at Raynor, she adds, "I told him we're Raynors men and he up and stopped asking questions.

There was a short series of chuckles. Nodding to the marines, the pilot moved to the door and unlocked it, letting the ramp extend and allow them all passage off the ship. "I said you guys owed me either money or beer. If you feel charitable or want to get drunk with me, now's the time."

Another short series of chuckles came. Eventually, the marines began filing out. Raynor moved up and stood to the side, allowing his men passage off the ship. The last to leave was Alpha squads commander, who nodded to the Ghost operative and followed the trail of limping marines to the mess hall. Alone, Raynor sighed and looked over to Kerrigan, still lost in thoughts.

Sighing again, Raynor sat down, his blue armor clanking as he sat across from the ghost operative. "Whats on your mind, Sarah?"

"Everything." The Ghost replied. "A betrayal, a suicide mission since there was no evac, and a dead team of marines. As you can expect, I'm pissed."

"You don't look it." Raynor commented. "You did what you could for your team, and don't tell me it wasn't enough. If you could have fired faster and more accurately, it wouldn't have changed a thing. You saw how many Zerg were there, you know what your odds were."

Raynor waited for a response. Five seconds later, Sarah nodded slowly. "Yeah… yeah, your right."

Raynor nodded. "Good. Don't think your to blame, Sarah. Soldiers come and go. Everyone is unique, has a family, has friends that will miss him, maybe even have wives. Marines are the standard infantry and we lose hundreds, if not thousands throughout our little skirmishes. If you think too much about it, you'll never be the same. If you don't think too much about it, you'll lead them to their deaths. Do what you can for them while they're alive, even if you know they're going to die."

Another short pause. Eventually, Kerrigan looked up at Raynor. "Do what I can while they are alive…" she repeated. The Ghost nodded. "Thanks Jim. I needed that."

"Don't thank me, Sarah. Just keep what I told you in mind." Raynor replied. The two shared another moment of silence before Kerrigan looked at him once more.

"Jim, thank you. Thank you for saving me, for disobeying orders to get me, for risking your own life to save me."

"Its what I do for friends, Sarah." Raynor replied with a crooked smile. "I don't leave them behind, not even for orders."

Sarah smiled and it made Jim smile. Eventually, the Ghost stood up to leave, to Raynors thoughts, but she didn't exactly leave. Looking up at the ghost for only a moment, he saw her lean down to him. He was going to ask what it was she needed, but found himself unable to speak as she planted a firm, rather pleasant kiss on his lips.

Raynor felt the sensation course through him. It was… warm. Something he couldn't explain since he hadn't had enough experience in the field of intimacy. Still, it was welcome.

Eventually, the Ghost broke the kiss and looked at his estranged face with a smile. She gave him a silent, sweet whisper. "Thanks Jim. For everything."

Not a second later, Sarah let him go and made her way out of the transport, walking to the mess for a meal she well deserved.

Jim found himself speechless, but found himself saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Uh… Any time."


End file.
